JPH11259228A - Computer joy stick having two optical sensors generating vector signals - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To eliminate an inaccurate measurement caused by the damage of a variable resistance due to frequent use of a joy stick handle by providing optical sensors which detect the rotations of shafts of a joy stick mechanism and generate corresponding displacement signals. SOLUTION: The two shafts 38 and 40 provided rotatably inside a housing 12 measure the rotations of the joy stick 14 in an X and a Y direction. The two optical sensors (42) 44 detect the rotation of the shafts 38a and 40 and generate the corresponding displacement signals. A processor connected to the optical sensors (42) 44 calculates the displacements Δ X and Δ Y of the shafts 38 and 40 from the displacement signals generated by the optical sensors (42) and 44 and updates coordinates stored in a memory, so that the current position of the joy stick handle 14 is maintained. Further, the processor generates a vector signal based upon the coordinated so as to indicate the current position of the joy stick handle 14 and transfers it to the computer.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

FIELD OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to computer joysticks, and more particularly to a computer joystick having two optical sensors that generate vector signals to indicate the current position of the joystick handle.

[0002]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Computer joysticks are usually
It is used as a two-dimensional pointing control system that uses a rotatable joystick handle to continuously generate a two-dimensional vector signal each representing its current position. The vector signal generated by the joystick is different from the displacement signal generated by the mouse which indicates the amount and direction of its displacement instead of the position of the mouse.

A conventional computer joystick is usually a housing, a rotatable joystick handle provided in a housing for driving two rotatable shafts in the housing, and a variable joystick for detecting the inclination angle of the two shafts. It consists of two position detectors formed by resistors and a control circuit connected to two position detectors that generate vector signals to indicate the tilt angles of the two axes indicating the current position of the joystick handle. One of the major drawbacks of conventional computer joysticks is that the two variable resistors are easily damaged by frequent or forceful use of the joystick handle. An inaccurate measurement of the tilted position of the two axes occurs when the two variable resistors are damaged by the frictional forces applied inside them.

[0004]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a computer joystick having two light sensors which generate vector signals to indicate the current position of the joystick handle to solve the above problems. It is in.

[0005]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The above objects are achieved by a housing having an opening at the top; two mutually orthogonal axes rotatably provided within the housing; and a rotatably provided at the opening of the housing. A joystick mechanism having a joystick handle and engagement means at the bottom end of the joystick handle rotatably engaged with the two axes; and a joystick mechanism within the housing to detect rotation of the two axes. Two optical sensors provided next to each other for generating a corresponding displacement signal; a memory for storing coordinates indicating the position of the joystick handle; and a memory for updating the coordinates according to the displacement signals generated by the two optical sensors. A control circuit connected to the two light sensors and having a processor for generating a vector signal corresponding to coordinates to indicate the current position of the joystick handle. It is achieved by a computer joystick.

[0006]

1, there is shown a perspective view of a computer joystick 10 according to the present invention. The computer joystick 10 has a housing 12 having an opening 16 at an upper end thereof, and a joystick handle 14 provided in the opening 16 rotatable within a range of an angle 18.
And a calibration button 15 for calibrating the position of the joystick handle 14.

Referring to FIGS. 2 and 3, FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view of the computer joystick 10 shown in FIG. 1 along line 2-2. FIG. 3 shows a control circuit 48 and two optical sensors 42, 44 of the joystick 10 shown in FIG.
FIG. Computer joystick 10
Comprises a housing 12 having an opening 16 at its upper end, a joystick mechanism 20, two optical sensors 42 and 44, a control circuit 48, and a calibration button 15. The joystick mechanism 20 includes two mutually perpendicular axes 38 and 40 rotatably provided inside the housing 12 for measuring the rotation of the joystick handle 14 in the X and Y directions, and the opening 16.
Joystick handle 14 rotatably provided on the
A hemispherical engagement means 24 provided at the bottom of the joystick handle 14 for rotatably engaging the two shafts 38, 40; an engagement means 24 for maintaining the joystick handle 14 in an upright position; And a spiral spring 32 provided therebetween.

The two light sensors 42, 44 are
2 to detect the rotation of the motor and generate the corresponding displacement signal.
It is provided in the housing 12 next to the two shafts 38, 40. The control circuit 48 includes a memory 50 for storing the coordinates as the position of the joystick handle 14 and a processor 54 connected to the two optical sensors 42 and 44 for updating the coordinates based on the displacement signal. Indicates the current position of the joystick handle 14 at all times. The processor 54 also generates a vector signal by coordinates to indicate the current position of the joystick handle 14 and forwards the vector signal to a connected computer (not shown) through the output port 52.

The joystick handle 14 has a ball-shaped knob 22 at a central portion thereof and a hemispherical engagement means 24 provided at the bottom of the joystick handle 14 which is rotatably engaged with two shafts 38, 40. Become. The knob 22 of the joystick handle 14 is the opening 1 of the housing 12.
6 so that the joystick handle 14 can be rotated within an angle 18. When the upper end of the joystick handle 14 is rotated by hand, the engagement means 24 causes rotation of the two axes 38, 40 along the X and / or Y directions, and the two light sensors 42,
44 simultaneously generates corresponding displacement signals to indicate the displacement of the two axes 38,40. The processor 54 calculates the displacements ΔX, ΔY of the two axes 38, 40 based on the displacement signals generated by the two optical sensors 42, 44, and stores them in the memory 50.
Is updated so that the current position of the joystick handle 14 is maintained. Meanwhile, the processor 54 continues to generate a vector signal across the output port 52 according to the position of the joystick handle 14 stored in the memory 50.

In order to accurately track the current position of the joystick handle 14, the processor 54 has two optical sensors 4
The coordinates stored in memory 50 must be continuously updated with the displacement signals generated by 2, 44. If an error occurs in the updating process due to a noisy signal or for other reasons, the error will be permanently accumulated in the coordinates unless the coordinates are calibrated. Some calibration process must be used to calibrate the coordinates stored in memory 50. In addition, the joystick 10 must be calibrated when powered on to set the initial coordinates in the memory 50.

Many methods can be devised to calibrate the joystick handle 14 coordinates stored in the memory 50. The calibration button 15 is used to calibrate the coordinates of the joystick handle 14. One way to calibrate coordinates is with joystick handle 1
4 is to set the coordinates of the starting position such as (0, 0) when the external force is not applied to the upright position. The user presses the calibration button 15 when the joystick handle 14 is set in such a predetermined position, and the processor 54 immediately changes the coordinates to (0, 0).
Set to. A computer connected to the joystick 10 is also used to calibrate the joystick 10 coordinates. It provides instructions to the monitor for the user to set the joystick handle 14 in position, and then sends instructions to the processor 54 to set the coordinates of the joystick 10 to the predetermined position. In this case, the calibration button 15 can be removed from the joystick 10 to reduce the cost of the joystick 10.

The manual calibration method requires human interaction and is therefore inconvenient for the end user. An automatic calibration method has been devised to solve such a problem, an example of which is shown in FIG. FIG. 4 shows a cross-sectional view of another computer joystick 60 according to the present invention. Computer joystick 60 differs from computer joystick 10 in that it uses a detector 62 to calibrate the coordinates of joystick handle 14 instead of using calibration button 15. The control circuitry of the computer joystick 60 is similar to that of the computer joystick 10 shown in FIG. 3 except that the calibration button 15 has been replaced by a detector 62.

A detector 62 provided below the joystick handle 14 includes a reflecting device 64 provided at the bottom of the joystick handle 14 for reflecting light, a light source 66 for emitting light, and a joystick handle 14 which is provided in a predetermined upright position. When in position, the light source 66 via the reflector 64
And a photodetector 68 for receiving the light emitted from. Whenever photodetector 68 receives light reflected from reflector 64, processor 54 coordinates the coordinates, eg, (0,0).
Immediately set to a predetermined position such as In this case, the processor 54 causes the joystick handle 1 to rotate when the joystick handle 14 is rotated to calibrate the coordinates.
Whenever 4 reaches a predetermined upright position, the coordinates are continuously updated by the displacement signal. No manual calibration is required.

[0014]

As compared with the variable resistor used in the conventional joystick, the advantage of the present invention is that two light sensors 4 are used.
2, 44 and control circuit 48 are used to generate the vector signal, and the problem encountered with the variable resistors used in conventional joysticks is to be solved in this way.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a computer joystick according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view of the computer joystick shown in FIG. 1 taken along line 2-2.

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram showing a control circuit and two optical sensors of the joystick shown in FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view of another computer joystick according to the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 10, 60 Computer joystick 12 Housing 16 Opening 18 Angle 14 Joystick handle 15 Calibration button 20 Joystick mechanism 38, 40 Axis 42, 44 Optical sensor 50 Memory 54 Processor 52 Output port 62 Detector 64 Reflector 66 Light source 68 Optical detector

Claims (7)

[Claims] A housing having an opening at the top; two mutually orthogonal axes rotatably provided within the housing; a joystick handle rotatably provided at the opening of the housing; and two axes. A joystick mechanism having an engagement means provided at the bottom end of the joystick handle rotatably engaging the two joystick handles; a joystick mechanism provided next to and corresponding to the two axes in the housing to detect rotation of the two axes; Two optical sensors for generating displacement signals; a memory for storing coordinates indicating the position of the joystick handle; and a method for updating coordinates according to the displacement signals generated by the two optical sensors.
A control circuit connected to the two optical sensors and having a processor for generating a vector signal corresponding to coordinates to indicate a current position of the joystick handle. 2. A predetermined position stored in a memory and a button arranged on a housing and connected to a processor of a control circuit. When the button is pressed, the processor sets a predetermined position as coordinates of a joystick handle. The computer joystick according to claim 1, wherein: 3. The computer joystick according to claim 2, wherein a button is pressed when no external force is applied to the joystick handle, and a predetermined position is used as a starting coordinate of the joystick handle. 4. The method further comprising a predetermined location stored in a memory, wherein the vector signal is transferred to a computer connected to a computer joystick, the computer sends a calibration signal to the computer joystick, and a processor of the control circuit receives the calibration signal. 2. A predetermined position is set as a coordinate of the joystick handle when the joystick is operated.
Computer joystick as described. 5. A processor provided in the housing and connected to a processor of a control circuit for detecting a joystick handle at a predetermined position, wherein the processor detects when the joystick handle is detected at the predetermined position by the detector. 2. The computer joystick according to claim 1, wherein the predetermined position is set as a coordinate of the joystick handle. 6. The computer joystick according to claim 5, wherein the predetermined position of the joystick handle is determined as a vertical position of the joystick handle without any external force. 7. The detector comprises a reflecting device provided at the bottom of the joystick handle for reflected light, a light source, and a photodetector provided in a housing, and the joystick handle reaches a predetermined position. When the light emitted from the light source is reflected by the reflection device and received by the photodetector, the processor determines the coordinates of the joystick handle when the photodetector of the detector receives the light reflected from the reflection device. 6. The computer joystick according to claim 5, wherein the position is set immediately.